Custer: Book Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEE A FFDDGGHH A IIJJKLMM H NNOOPPQQ H RRSSTTUU H HHJJVVWW H XXYYZZRR Y A2A2B2B2C2C2D2D2 B2 E2E2JJF2F2G2G2 B2 B2B2HHB2B2H2H2 B2 I2I2J2J2F2F2EE B2 B2B2K2K2L2 YY B2 F2F2B2B2B2B2M2 Y B2B2JJB2B2B2B2 Y N2N2O2O2J2J2B2B2 Y P2P2Q2Q2B2B2R2R2 Y S2S2T2U2EEV2V2 Y B2B2JJB2B2YY B2 N2N2FFW2W2B2B2 B2 RRB2 B2A2A2VV B2 RRX2X2VVB2B2 B2 RI | A |
- | |
As in the long dead days marauding hosts | B |
Of Indians came from far Siberian coasts | B |
And drove the peaceful Aztecs from their grounds | C |
Despoiled their homes but left their tell tale mounds | C |
So has the white man with the Indians done | D |
Now with their backs against the setting sun | D |
The remnants of a dying nation stand | E |
And view the lost domain once their beloved land | E |
- | |
II | A |
- | |
Upon the vast Atlantic's leagues of shore | F |
The happy red man's tent is seen no more | F |
And from the deep blue lakes which mirror heaven | D |
His bounding bark canoe was long since driven | D |
The mighty woods those temples where his God | G |
Spoke to his soul are leveled to the sod | G |
And in their place tall church spires point above | H |
While priests proclaim the law of Christ the King of Love | H |
- | |
III | A |
- | |
The avaricious and encroaching rail | I |
Seized the wide fields which knew the Indians' trail | I |
Back to the reservations in the West | J |
The native owners of the land were pressed | J |
And selfish cities harbingers of want | K |
Shut from their vision each accustomed haunt | L |
Yet hungry Progress never satisfied | M |
Gazed on the western plains and gazing longed and sighed | M |
- | |
IV | H |
- | |
As some strange bullock in a pasture field | N |
Compels the herds to fear him and to yield | N |
The juicy grass plots and the cooling shade | O |
Until despite their greater strength afraid | O |
They huddle in some corner spot and cower | P |
Before the monarch's all controlling power | P |
So has the white man driven from its place | Q |
By his aggressive greed Columbia's native race | Q |
- | |
V | H |
- | |
Yet when the bull pursues the herds at bay | R |
Incensed they turn and dare dispute his sway | R |
And so the Indians turned when men forgot | S |
Their sacred word and trespassed on the spot | S |
The lonely little spot of all their lands | T |
The reservation of the peaceful bands | T |
But lust for gold all conscience kills in man | U |
'Gold in the Black Hills gold ' the cry arose and ran | U |
- | |
VI | H |
- | |
From lip to lip as flames from tree to tree | H |
Leap till the forest is one fiery sea | H |
And through the country surged that hot unrest | J |
Which thirst for riches wakens in the breast | J |
In mighty throngs the fortune hunters came | V |
Despoiled the red man's lands and slew his game | V |
Broke solemn treaties and defied the law | W |
And all these ruthless acts the Nation knew and saw | W |
- | |
VII | H |
- | |
Man is the only animal that kills | X |
Just for the wanton love of slaughter spills | X |
The blood of lesser things to see it flow | Y |
Lures like a friend to murder like a foe | Y |
The trusting bird and beast and coward like | Z |
Deals covert blows he dare not boldly strike | Z |
The brutes have finer souls and only slay | R |
When torn by hunger's pangs or when to fear a prey | R |
- | |
VIII | Y |
- | |
The pale faced hunter insolent and bold | A2 |
Pursued the bison while he sought for gold | A2 |
And on the hungry red man's own domains | B2 |
He left the rotting and unused remains | B2 |
To foul with sickening stench each passing wind | C2 |
And rouse the demon in the savage mind | C2 |
Save in the heart where virtues dominate | D2 |
Injustice always breeds its natural offspring hate | D2 |
- | |
IX | B2 |
- | |
The chieftain of the Sioux great Sitting Bull | E2 |
Mused o'er their wrongs and felt his heart swell full | E2 |
Of bitter vengeance Torn with hate's unrest | J |
He called a council and his braves addressed | J |
'From fair Wisconsin's shimmering lakes of blue | F2 |
Long years ago the white man drove the Sioux | F2 |
Made bold by conquest and inflamed by greed | G2 |
He still pursues our tribes and still our ranks recede | G2 |
- | |
X | B2 |
- | |
'Fair are the White Chief's promises and words | B2 |
But dark his deeds who robs us of our herds | B2 |
He talks of treaties asks the right to buy | H |
Then takes by force not waiting our reply | H |
He grants us lands for pastures and abodes | B2 |
To devastate them by his iron roads | B2 |
But now from happy Spirit Lands a friend | H2 |
Draws near the hunted Sioux to strengthen and defend | H2 |
- | |
XI | B2 |
- | |
'While walking in the fields I saw a star | I2 |
Unconsciously I followed it afar | I2 |
It led me on to valleys filled with light | J2 |
Where danced our noble chieftains slain in fight | J2 |
Black Kettle first of all that host I knew | F2 |
He whom the strong armed Custer foully slew | F2 |
And then a spirit took me by the hand | E |
The Great Messiah King who comes to free the land | E |
- | |
XII | B2 |
- | |
'Suns were his eyes a speaking tear his voice | B2 |
Whose rainbow sounds made listening hearts rejoice | B2 |
And thus he spake 'The red man's hour draws near | K2 |
When all his lost domains shall reappear | K2 |
The elk the deer the bounding antelope | L2 |
Shall here return to grace each grassy slope ' | - |
He waved his hand above the fields and lo | Y |
Down through the valleys came a herd of buffalo | Y |
- | |
XIII | B2 |
- | |
'The wondrous vision vanished but I knew | F2 |
That Sitting Bull must make the promise true | F2 |
Great Spirits plan what mortal man achieves | B2 |
The hand works magic when the heart believes | B2 |
Arouse ye braves let not the foe advance | B2 |
Arm for the battle and begin the dance | B2 |
The sacred dance in honor of our slain | M2 |
Who will return to earth ere many moons shall wane ' | - |
- | |
XIV | Y |
- | |
Thus Sitting Bull the chief of wily knaves | B2 |
Worked on the superstitions of his braves | B2 |
Mixed truth with lies and stirred to mad unrest | J |
The warlike instinct in each savage breast | J |
A curious product of unhappy times | B2 |
The natural offspring of unnumbered crimes | B2 |
He used low cunning and dramatic arts | B2 |
To startle and surprise those crude untutored hearts | B2 |
- | |
XV | Y |
- | |
Out from the lodges pour a motley throng | N2 |
Slow measures chanting of a dirge like song | N2 |
In one great circle dizzily they swing | O2 |
A squaw and chief alternate in the ring | O2 |
Coarse raven locks stream over robes of white | J2 |
Their deep set orbs emit a lurid light | J2 |
And as through pine trees moan the winds refrains | B2 |
So swells and dies away the ghostly graveyard strains | B2 |
- | |
XVI | Y |
- | |
Like worded wine is music to the ear | P2 |
And long indulged makes mad the hearts that hear | P2 |
The dancers drunken with the monotone | Q2 |
Of oft repeated notes now shriek and groan | Q2 |
And pierce their ruddy flesh with sharpened spears | B2 |
Still more excited when the blood appears | B2 |
With warlike yells high in the air they bound | R2 |
Then in a deathlike trance fall prostrate on the ground | R2 |
- | |
XVII | Y |
- | |
They wake to tell weird stories of the dead | S2 |
While fresh performers to the ring are led | S2 |
The sacred nature of the dance is lost | T2 |
War is their cry red war at any cost | U2 |
Insane for blood they wait for no command | E |
But plunge marauding through the frightened land | E |
Their demon hearts on devils' pleasures bent | V2 |
For each new foe surprised new torturing deaths invent | V2 |
- | |
XVIII | Y |
- | |
Staked to the earth one helpless creature lies | B2 |
Flames at his feet and splinters in his eyes | B2 |
Another groans with coals upon his breast | J |
While 'round the pyre the Indians dance and jest | J |
A crying child is brained upon a tree | B2 |
The swooning mother saved from death to be | B2 |
The slave and plaything of a filthy knave | Y |
Whose sins would startle hell whose clay defile a grave | Y |
- | |
XIX | B2 |
- | |
Their cause was right their methods all were wrong | N2 |
Pity and censure both to them belong | N2 |
Their woes were many but their crimes were more | F |
The soulless Satan holds not in his store | F |
Such awful tortures as the Indians' wrath | W2 |
Keeps for the hapless victim in his path | W2 |
And if the last lone remnants of that race | B2 |
Were by the white man swept from off the earth's fair face | B2 |
- | |
XX | B2 |
- | |
Were every red man slaughtered in a day | R |
Still would that sacrifice but poorly pay | R |
For one insulted woman captive's woes | B2 |
- | |
Again great Custer in his strength arose | B2 |
More daring more intrepid than of old | A2 |
The passing years had touched and turned to gold | A2 |
The ever widening aureole of fame | V |
That shone upon his brow and glorified his name | V |
- | |
XXI | B2 |
- | |
Wise men make laws then turn their eyes away | R |
While fools and knaves ignore them day by day | R |
And unmolested fools and knaves at length | X2 |
Induce long wars which sap a country's strength | X2 |
The sloth of leaders ruling but in name | V |
Has dragged full many a nation down to shame | V |
A word unspoken by the rightful lips | B2 |
Has dyed the land with blood and blocked the sea with ships | B2 |
- | |
XXII | B2 |
- | |
The word withheld wh | R |
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Custer: Book Third poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Best Poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox